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Vacation Time (for 2010)

I have somewhat injured myself and seriously must lie down for the next two days. Damned lunges and also squats. I am so tired and achy, which may also be a symptom of being dehydrated. Made it into work though, where I am diligently working hard. *ahem* At any rate, I full on feel like crap.

I have been talking to my Texas friend Tara via Facebook and we have decided that we will do the South Beach diet starting after Thanksgiving.  Our reasons are thus: Tara’s getting married next year and wants to look awesome, and I also want to look awesome for this event. I have been wanting to do the 2 week Atkins metabolic reset that starts out your South Beach experience because I really felt great the last time I did it. I was going to do this in January, but having Tara do it at the same time will be a supportive bonus, because no carbs is SO HARD for like three days, you think you are going to keel over and croak, but by the end of the two weeks you are really feeling awesome.

Speaking of Tara’s wedding, I asked her if they’d set a date, and they have! July 31, 2010 – which, honestly, is like the most perfect time for me to take time off the job. I was going to go regardless of workload/meeting schedule, but now I can take a little more time off and really enjoy myself! Since 7/31/10 is a Saturday, I am thinking that I may take off 7/29-8/6/10.  I won’t spend all that time in Texas, but I will certainly spend a chunk!

(Incidentally, I wonder if Tara realizes she is getting married on Harry Potter’s birthday?)

I also found this picture and I think I found the style of dress I will wear to the wedding:

anthrodress

Isn’t that cute? I love Anthropology stuff. Made out of cotton jersey or just regular cotton would be a nice, cool, and flattering fashion statement. I want to whip out the sewing machine this winter, so hopefully I will acquire some Mad Skillz to make it. I haven’t actually sewn anything in about 18 years, so I’m a little, uh… out of practice. I think boots would look awesome with this dress, however being realistic I have to say that boots in Texas in late July would be stupid as it is approximately 800 Billion Degrees that time of year there.

My friend Sarah has started sewing recently and has really surprised me with her enthusiasm for it, so I kind of figure that if she can get going with it, so can I! I’ve been toting a sewing machine around the country for five years, I oughtta use it, don’t you think?

Anyway, I’m pretty stoked about going back to Texas for a few days next summer. It’s my favorite place, after all. I’m a little bummed I didn’t make it out there this year, but every other year seems to be the schedule so this will be right on track.  PLUS my friend Daphne is out of grad school in Arizona so I will be able to visit with her.  I haven’t seen her since I moved away – she was out of state when I was there in 2008.

So, brace yourself, San Antonio. I am returning to your hallowed ground in a mere eight months!! bwahahaha

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How corny.

Having received a real-live-actual invitation to Thanksgiving I am now backed into a corner re: my least favorite holiday because I was summoned to bring something to eat.

So I replied to the email summons that I would bring a corn pudding.

I like corn pudding.

I had not actually made one.

So, I putzed around on the internets and found myriad recipes for corn pudding until I came across one that would only cost me a couple of dollars because I actually had most of the ingredients, including about 4 cans of creamed corn in my pantry (wtf?). Last night I made it as an experiment and it turned out pretty good.

Here is the recipe:

CORN PUDDING THING

1/2 Cup Butter
2 Eggs
1 can creamed corn
1 can regular corn
1 box corn bread mix
1 Cup sour cream

I actually used the following:
1/2 Cup Fake Soy Butter
2 Eggs
1 can creamed corn
1 16 oz package frozen white corn
1 box Jiffy (8 oz, I think) cornbread mix
1 cup lite/light sour cream

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a 9×9 pan (MY MOD: 8×8 nonstick pan… because that’s what I had.)
  2. Melt butter/fake butter on the stove, in a small pan/pot. Drain the regular corn of excess packing water. Throw all ingredients into  a big bowl and stir until everything is mixed. Looks kind of like lumpy cake or cornbread batter when you’re done.
  3. Bake for 45 minutes in the preheated oven (MY MOD: Since I was using an 8×8 pan instead of a 9×9, it took a good half hour longer to bake, because of the thickness of the batter). It’s done baking when the top is golden brown, and the pudding is “set”. Also, you stick a knife in the middle and it comes out relatively smoothly. Serves six or more, depending on serving size.

cornPudding
(image “borrowed” from here. Please note that my version had a bunch of knife holes in it where I poked it to see if it was done. And also it was square. But it looks really similar other than that! hehe)

Note: I didn’t thaw my frozen corn before I made this so I think that combined with the smaller pan definitely had an impact on baking time.

It turned out really nicely, moist and tasty. As a further modification, I think adding some chopped jalapenos to this recipe would be awesome. Then it would be like that chile rellenos casserole that my mom makes that is so delicious. Only with corn.

So if you like corn stuff, I would definitely recommend this recipe because it’s kind of a cross between corn pudding and cornbread. It’s also not too terrible fat-wise, though it’s pretty carby, so watch out for that, if that’s something you’re watching out for.  I like corn a lot, but in my quest to eat lower carbs, or make better carb decisions (whole grains, etc.) I don’t really eat it all that much since it’s not really a vegetable, it’s mostly a starch/grain. Because I used fake soy butter and lite sour cream that also added to the lower-calories/sat fat results.

Also if you’re looking for something less cholesterol-y I think you could probably substitute egg beaters for the eggs, but I’m not sure yet how to do substitutions like that. Food science, like the amount of canned corn in my pantry, remains a mystery.

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Finding Food Friday #4

I think summer has let go, here on the Left Coast.

I enjoyed the one stretch of cool-but-warm weather, maybe a week. It’s my favorite. Everything else I loathe. Today was the first cold day of the season. I hate it.

This week was much less of a food challenge than previous because I actually had groceries! Go figure. I’m making better choices and making use of the awesome, cheap, and questionably originated vegetables and fruits  at the Asian markets around here. My favorite is 99 Ranch Market, which is across the street from my office, but if I can’t get there for some reason, I can go to County Market which is less than a mile from my house.  It’s one of the few things that’s nice about living near the coast of the Stupidest State of Them All: easy access to A) Asian culture and B) their grocery stores.

Anyway, one of the things that’s really nice about the Asian stores is that everything is so, so cheap. I’ve been kind of strapped for cash lately (this whole “owning a house” and “paying for mortgage” thing kind of sucks you dry in the greenback department), and one of the monumentally unfair things I have found in terms of trying to Lead A Healthy Lifestyle is how frigging expensive it is!!

You can, however, learn how to shop around and make use of bulk stores and other types of stores, like organic or indie grocery shops.

My favorite grocery store, besides 99 Ranch Market is Trader Joe’s.  Trader Joe’s is not only a great store with great products and great pricing, but it treats their employees right. I buy most of my meat here because it’s good quality, often organic (like free range chicken, which is more delicious than regular chicken… honestly I could care less about chicken treatment, except that nicely treated free-range chicken really ARE way more delicious!!), and fairly inexpensive if you shop right.

Anyway, so my whole point is that here, in what is one of the (if not THE? – I’m too lazy to look) most expensive places to live (e.g.: my cost of living is triple what I was paying in Texas) if you look around and make the right choices, healthy eating isn’t too hard.

Here’s where I shop:

Trader Joe’s for basic groceries on a weekly basis – I can get about a week’s worth to supplement my current supply for about $20.

Asian Grocery Stores for fresh fruits and vegetables and quirky ingredients (I cook a lot of Thai food these days, mostly curry)

Local Farmer’s Markets for fresh fruits and vegetables – this also localizes where you shop and helps the economy for your neighborhood or county.

Winco/Target/Walmart for discounted canned goods and basic groceries.  All “house brands” at these places are good and much cheaper than regular grocery stores.

I haven’t actually set foot in a regular grocery store (here it’s Safeway, other places is Vons, HEB, Ralph’s, etc.) in months. Making that decision to look for alternate sources of healthy eating wasn’t very hard: mainstream supermarkets are crazy expensive! And I can get all the things I used to get there at Winco for much, much cheaper.

So that’s what I do when I’m grocery shopping, is go to many different places in order to find the best deals around.

(And yes, I realize I’m posting this on Saturday.)